ArtistSpeak* @ MRU: Mental Health
The Art for Social Change Network: Calgary Hub
Location: Trico Changemakers Studio (MRU)
Date: October 30, 2025, 5pm
Time: 4:30pm
The Art for Social Change Network: Calgary Hub and Institute for Community Prosperity presents ArtistSpeak* at MRU: Mental Health.
Join hosts Kenna Burima and Eddy Robinson as they delve into the intersections of mental health and creativity, featureing an incredible line up of artists sharing how their mental health, creativity and artistic practice intersect.
For more information and to register visit ArtistSpeak* @ MRU: Mental Health.
Please note! This ArtistSpeak* takes place at the Trico Changemakers Studio at MRU! Doors at 4:30pm, event starts at 5pm.
Eddy Robinson (they/them) is a harm reduction and gender diversity educator, advocate and activist. Eddy makes magical things and shows us how crafting can change the world, one scrap, one knot, one knitted blanket at a time.
Kenna Burima (she/her) is a songwriter, educator, producer and writer. She likes to have big conversations with friends, family and strangers and believes artists are the most powerful people on the planet. She is currently balancing raising a 8 yeard old kid, writing a book on creativity and writing songs for her fourth solo album.
Featured Artists
Dr. Shumaila Hemani is an award-winning artist-scholar, trauma-informed coach, and founder of the deep listening path, a Calgary-based social enterprise. A certified positive neuroplasticity teacher and a founding support member of the global compassion coalition, established by dr. Rick Hanson, she combines music, mindfulness, and deep listening to foster resilience and address burnout—particularly among changemakers, creatives, and advocates navigating systemic inequities. Recognized for her thought leadership, Dr. Hemani has facilitated numerous workshops guiding communities toward sustainable well-being. Her song “Anticipating” was featured in a national suicide-prevention awareness tour, and her forthcoming memoir, “writing in the wound: acculturation, trauma, and music,” explores displacement, immigration precarity, and the transformative power of music as a form of resistance and recovery.
Stacey Perlin is Chairperson of the Perlin Foundation for Wellbeing and Lead Facilitator for BlissFest Labs. These organizations promote mental health literacy and support healthy brain development. She guides a community of volunteers, artists, and professionals through arts & culture projects she’s designed that support the local mental health ecosystem. Her work features programs such as pop-up zones for emotional regulation at festivals, facilitating mental health information through play and art, and supporting Art for Social Change initiatives. Stacey has become recognized as an engaging speaker and authority within the arts and culture, and mental health ecosystems.
Ryan Wesley Gray is a Calgary-based actor, writer, and arts professional whose work explores mental health, identity, and social change. His solo play Somebody, a semi-autobiographical reflection on depression and stigma, earned acclaim at the Common Ground and Calgary Region One-Act Play Festivals. Ryan believes in art’s power to bring people together, foster empathy, celebrate our shared humanity and differences, and nurture mental well-being and growth. Offstage, he previously worked with Vibrant Communities Calgary and now contributes to Calgary’s arts and community sectors through Ghost River Theatre, cSPACE, and as Chair of the Betty Mitchell Awards.
